Panasonic Corp's <6752.T> finance chief said the company is seeing strong demand for battery cells from U.S. partner Tesla <TSLA.O> and they are in talks to expand their joint plant in Nevada, which is now profitable. The positive outlook comes after production troubles and delays at Tesla strained the company's partnership with Panasonic over the past few years. Panasonic recently lost its status as Tesla's exclusive battery supplier, but has been able to turn around the U.S. joint battery business as demand for Tesla's electric cars soar.

BEIJING/TOKYO (Reuters) - U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> plans to slash on-site staff at its Nevada battery plant by around 75% due to the coronavirus pandemic, the local county manager said on Thursday. The move comes after its Japanese battery partner Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would scale down operations at the Nevada factory this week before closing it for 14 days. The factory produces electric motors and battery packs for Tesla's popular Model 3 sedans.

Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said on Saturday it will temporarily suspend production at its battery joint venture with U.S. electric carmaker Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> in Nevada because of the coronavirus outbreak. The Japanese electronics company, which supplies battery cells for Tesla's electric vehicles, will scale down operations at so-called Gigafactory 1 early next week before closing it for 14 days, Panasonic said in an emailed statement. A Panasonic spokeswoman declined to comment on how the suspension would affect Tesla, which produces battery packs using Panasonic cells at the Nevada plant.

Panasonic is pulling its 3,500 employees from the massive Nevada factory it operates with partner Tesla over concerns about the spread of COVID-19. The company said Friday it will ramp down operations early next week and then close for 14 days. The move only affects Panasonic employees.

Tesla losing a big partner. Panasonic said Wednesday it's withdrawing from its deal with Tesla to produce solar cells at a plant in Buffalo, New York. The Japanese electronics company said it'll stop production in May and exit the factory by September. Panasonic employs about 380 of the more than 1500 workers at the plant. It said Tesla hopes to hire many of those workers for its operations in Buffalo. The Wall Street Journal reports Tesla told New York officials it'll keep producing solar panels there. The move is another sign of Tesla's fraying relationship with its Japanese partner. Panasonic status as the electric vehicle maker's exclusive automotive battery supplier is ending, and Tesla is set to diversify its battery supplies with other Asian companies. Panasonic said it'll keep producing batteries with Tesla at its joint venture plant in Nevada. Panasonic's exit from the Buffalo factory also increases uncertainty over Tesla's solar business. It had initially planned to sell the cells it makes there to Tesla for the so-called Solar Roof that resembles regular roof tiles. But it ships most of those cells to overseas customers because demand from Tesla has been low. Tesla has been scaling back its solar business since it bought it three years ago. Tesla shares lost ground at the open Wednesday despite the bounce in the broader market.

TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would exit solar cell production at Tesla Inc's New York plant, the latest sign of strain in a partnership where Panasonic's status as the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker's exclusive battery supplier is ending. The move increases uncertainty over Tesla's <TSLA.O> solar business which is already under scrutiny, having been drastically scaled back since the U.S. firm bought it for $2.6 billion in 2016. Tesla has informed New York that Panasonic's withdrawal "has no bearing on Tesla's current operations", the state said in a statement.

TOKYO/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would exit solar cell production at Tesla Inc's New York plant, the latest sign of strain in a partnership where Panasonic's status as the U.S. electric vehicle (EV) maker's exclusive battery supplier is ending. The move increases uncertainty over Tesla's <TSLA.O> solar business which is already under scrutiny, having been drastically scaled back since the U.S. firm bought it for $2.6 billion in 2016. Tesla has informed New York that Panasonic's withdrawal "has no bearing on Tesla's current operations", the state said in a statement.

The latest surge was partly fuelled by Panasonic Corp <6752.T> saying on Monday its automotive battery venture with Tesla was in the black for the first time. "Investors are now starting to believe that Tesla can make mass-volume electric vehicles, and automakers, battery makers and suppliers can make money from EVs," said Cho Hyun-ryul, analyst at Samsung Securities. Short interest in Tesla stood at 13.8% as of Jan. 30, according to Refinitiv data.

U.S. stocks climbed on Monday as gains in Amazon and Nike as well as a surprise rebound in U.S. factory activity helped markets attempt a recovery from steep weekly losses due to concerns about the coronavirus epidemic. ISM data showed the manufacturing sector expanded in January after five straight months of contraction, indicating that a prolonged slump in business investment has probably bottomed out.

TOKYO/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Tesla Inc's stock surged 20% on Monday in its largest one-day gain since 2013, fueled by a quarterly profit at Panasonic's battery business with the U.S. car maker and an investor report predicting its shares would rise more than ten-fold by 2024. Shares of Tesla have rallied by over 30% since the car maker run by Chief Executive Elon Musk posted its second consecutive quarterly profit last Wednesday, which was viewed as a milestone for the company competing against established heavyweights including General Motors Co and BMW. The stock is up over 300% since early June, helped by Tesla's better-than-expected financial results and ramped up production at its new car factory in Shanghai.

Toyota Motor Corp and Panasonic Corp have agreed to set up a joint venture that will begin developing electric vehicle (EV) batteries from April, as the Japanese companies gear up for an expected surge in demand. The new company, called Prime Planet Energy and Solutions, will develop prismatic - or square-shaped - batteries that will be available to any automaker, the two companies said in a statement on Monday. It will begin operations on April 1 with more than 5,000 employees, with Toyota owning 51% and Panasonic holding the remainder, the pair said.

Panasonic Corp <6752.T> said it would sell its loss-making semiconductor unit to Taiwan's Nuvoton Technology Corp <4919.TW> for $250 million as the Japanese electronics giant struggles to lift its profit amid a lack of growth drivers. The sale is part of Panasonic's plans to cut fixed costs by 100 billion yen ($920 million) by the year ending in March 2022 by consolidating production sites and overhauling loss-making businesses. Panasonic has already divested most of its chip business as it lost to more nimble Korean and Taiwanese rivals, and has shut down or shifted its manufacturing facilities to its joint venture (JV) with Israel's Tower Semiconductor <TSEM.TA>.

Panasonic Corp <6752.T> has no plans to build a new battery plant for Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> in China, the Japanese company's chief executive said, as it struggles to make money from its existing battery business with the electric vehicle (EV) maker. "We don't have any plans at the moment to set up a production site in China for Tesla's Chinese business," CEO Kazuhiro Tsuga told reporters at a strategy briefing on Friday. "It is up to Tesla to decide whether it would use Chinese-made batteries from other manufacturers or get batteries from our Gigafactory 1 (in Nevada)," he said.

Panasonic Corp <6752.T> on Thursday reported a 12% drop in its second-quarter operating profit as the Japanese firm was hurt by the Sino-U.S. trade war and higher development costs related to its automotive business in Europe. A year earlier, Panasonic, the exclusive battery cell supplier for new electric vehicles (EVs) made by Tesla Inc <TSLA.O>, had earned 95.2 billion yen. The company maintained its profit forecast for the year through March at 300 billion yen, compared with an average estimate of 293.94 billion yen from 19 analysts.